Barstool Sports president Dave Portnoy accused ESPN college football reporter Kris Budden of rooting against BYU based on her facial expression during a pregame segment, but Budden pushed back, saying her report had nothing to do with the team’s playoff chances.
During a pregame segment, Budden reported on a story about an adjustment BYU made to start games faster. A graphic showed BYU’s playoff chances, indicating they had a 99.9% chance to make the postseason tournament with a win and a 0.8% chance with a loss. BYU lost to Texas Tech 34-7 on Saturday.
Portnoy, who has been rooting for BYU to make the playoff and called himself “Provo Dave,” saw the graphic and posted on X, believing Budden had a rooting interest in the game.
“How happy is ESPN to openly report this crime?” Portnoy asked in the post. “Look at the glee on her face!”
Budden saw the post and responded, saying her expression and her report had nothing to do with the graphic and were solely focused on BYU’s slow starts.
“You could actually listen to the television where I was talking about their week at practice and it had nothing to do with their chances at the playoffs,” Budden said late Saturday night on X.
Portnoy did not reply to Budden’s response. Instead, he turned his attention to the College Football Playoff committee and its inclusion of Alabama in the playoff.
“Unless the committee takes Bama and BYU, which they obviously won’t, somebody is getting screwed because it will be inconsistent logic,” Portnoy said. “If they go just on eye test and who makes the best games, it’s Notre Dame and Vanderbilt. But I think it will be Notre Dame and Miami. It should be BYU and Bama fairness-wise.”